18 April 2012

NLBP Parking Policy

Barnet Council don't just hack off residents and visitors to Barnet when it comes to Parking, they are now hacking off all of the staff to boot.

avoid this fashion faux pas: the Denver boot

Jacquie McGeachie has gone off to some secret project working for Nick Walkley (Mr Mustard does hope that the proper tendering arrangements were made which he will establish through a FOI request - sorry Mr Cornelius but this is the price of secrecy) and Sarah Murphy-Brookman (SMB) has stepped into her shoes (this is a figurative term) and is now spending her valuable time on parking for staff, not on important HR issues like making many of the workforce redundant. Parking shouldn't of course be a problem as anyone sensible would have taken out a lease on office space with adequate parking space to start with but this is Barnet Council we are talking about where crisis management may well be the order of the day.

So here is the sixth revision of the parking policy for staff which won't make SMB popular with staff, especially with essential car users whose car details are already on file and should have been issued with permits as a matter of course or with the staff who had to queue up for half an hour to get their permits or with the staff who were disturbed by the queue that snaked though their office whilst they were trying to work (which couldn't have been noisier if they were dancing the conga) except that their computers were up the shoot again so they couldn't work anyway.

So para 1, why is parking space scarce? Bad management in signing a lease on premises where parking is scarce.

Para 4. Such bureaucracy. Who is going to want to park at NLBP who doesn't work there?

Para 4.3. Contractors and interims have to pay £25 a month by cheque. By cheque! What era are we in? This should be pay-by-phone surely?

Para 5. Permit misuse. Oh dear, two councillors have just handed their CPZ permits back because of misuse (allegedly - they don't admit it but then why hand your permit back?)The councillors have not been subject to any disciplinary action - one rule for them and another for staff?

Para 6. This is completely wrong. If an employee decides that rather than fighting their way into NLBP, or spending 15 minutes going round and round the car park looking for a space, they want to park outside and walk in then, as a member of the public, and one of the Queen's loyal subjects, they have as much right as anyone else to park on the highway (this might be none at all as we only have the right to pass along the highway but for all intents and purposes residents have no more rights than employees of Barnet Council ).. When Mr Mustard visited NLBP a few weeks ago he parked in Brunswick Park Road. He did not deprive a resident of a space. For all Mr Mustard knows said resident could have been parked in Mr Mustard's road at the same time. If we all start to get this parochial none of us will be able to leave home because we won't be able to park at our destination.

This policy needs some further thought. An employer, even a local authority, does not own the roads in the vicinity of its office and cannot forbid staff to park in them especially as it is not in their contract of employment, and don't even think of amending that. Very soon many of the staff at NLBP will be gone, contracted out to outsourced employers so the problem will diminish. Why not just ride this out?

You surely have better things to do with your expensive time than this Sarah Murphy-Brookman? Do you get a reserved space in the executive wing of the car park perchance?

How much staff time was wasted dishing out these pointless permits? Quite a bit.

To: AllStaffSubject: New council site parking
permits – collection details

As staff may know, a new permit
system for parking on-site at NLBP, Barnet House and Mill Hill Depot is being
introduced, to deal with the high number of permits currently in circulation and
the difficulties that staff often experience in finding a parking
space.

New permits will begin to be
distributed from this Monday, 16 April, and staff should note the time and place
of their nearest pick-up session and attend, with a completed application form as can be found at
Annex 1 of the attached Parking Policy, a copy of their car insurance or MOT
certificate and their LBB identity card. They will then be issued
with a permit.

There is no charge for the permit
for council employees, casual or as and when workers and temporary agency
workers. Contractors will be required to pay £25 per month by cheque (made
payable to London Borough of Barnet) to park at any of the three
sites.

The pick-up sessions will run to the
following schedule (on each day, the pick-up point will be staffed from 9.30am
to 4.30pm and signs will direct you to where the team are
located):

Monday 16 April – Ground Floor,
Building 4 (track side)

Tuesday 17 April – Ground Floor,
Building 4 (Atrium side)

Wednesday 18 April – First Floor,
Building 4 (track side)

Thursday 19 April – First Floor,
Building 4 (Atrium side)

Friday 20 April – Second Floor,
Building 4 (track side)

Monday 23 April – Second Floor,
Building 4 (Atrium side)

Tuesday 24 April – First Floor,
Building 2 (near meeting room F10)

Wednesday 25 April – ‘wrap-up’
session (location to be confirmed)

Thursday 26 April – Barnet House
(location to be confirmed)

Friday 27 April – Barnet House
(location to be confirmed)

Monday 30 April – Mill Hill Depot
(location to be confirmed)

Tuesday 1 May – Mill Hill Depot
(location to be confirmed)

Working for an employer who has signed up to let their employees' cars be clamped is also pretty dire. Mr Mustard would park on the road every time and walk in. Find a nice road about 800m away, don't leave any clue in your car as to where you work and have a nice little walk in past the papershop etc. Job done.